Thursday, January 21, 2016

A Story of Esther: Verse of 2016

Raise your hand if your jaw dropped when you saw I posted a blog. {insert emoji of girl raising her hand}

I'll make it worth your time, I promise. 2016!!! Hello!!! We are 21 days into January of 2016. Good news? I've only written 2015 once. 

January has been crazy. I am going to be an aunt!!! Sister Laura Pocket is having a baby on my favorite holiday! We had a party to find out it's a girl!! Bridesmaid Julie is having a baby next week - we celebrated her with a baby shower. We are smack dab in the middle of basketball season - games, tournaments, the whole shebang. Two of my favorites had their birthdays... and we're still celebrating. We have some new prayer requests that we've added to our list for family.. and for family friends. I have a new student teacher who joined me in my crazy classroom. And the best news of all is God is faithful through it all. 

Which is exactly why I thought it was a good time to check in and share the verse that we've picked to be our verse of 2016. I thoroughly enjoyed the process of picking the verse out with the help of my husband.. it's a tradition that I want to continue for, well... a long time. 

Here is the back story of our verse. It's about Esther. Esther was chosen to be Queen out of all the land; however, she never told the King that she was Jew. Mordecai, who raised Esther, became the target of a ill tempered court official named Haman. Haman decided instead of just getting rid of Mordecai, he would set forth a decree that all Jews be killed on the 13th day of the 12 month. When Mordecai heard this he went to Esther and told her she must reveal herself to the King and ask him to change the law. At this point of the story, Esther is terrified to reveal herself because it could mean death for herself. However, Mordecai's response to Esther is where we find our verse for 2016. Mordecai responds with this: 
"Esther 4:14 - Perhaps this is the moment for which you have been created."
If you want to know how the story ends, it's probably exactly as you imagine. Esther reveals herself and Haman's true colors to the King and asks the King to spare the Jews lives. He grants her wish and Haman is impaled on a 75 ft pole. 

The importance to me is that Esther realized the situation she was in and even though her decision was not the easiest to make, she still made it. Sometimes God has bigger plans than we can imagine and maybe, just maybe... it's exactly what we are made for. 

Happy New Year everyone. 

2016 - Esther 4:14
2015 - 2 Timothy 1:9
2014 – Psalm 71:3
2013 – Hebrews 6:19
2012 – John 16:33
2011 – Hebrews 11:1
2010 – Joshua 1:9
2009 – Psalm 46:1